CALGARY — The addition of high-profile American retailers Target and Nordstrom to Chinook Centre will push annual retail sales at the mall to the near $1 billion mark.

On the day Nordstrom officially announced its plans to expand into the Canadian marketplace with its first store in Calgary in the fall of 2014, Terry Napper, Chinook Centre’s general manager, said the mall’s rolling 12-month total for retail sales at the end of August was $720 million including all 225 retailers in 1.4 million square feet.

With Target set to open in May 2013 and Nordstrom by the fall of 2014, Napper said the two retailers could draw an additional one million to two million visitors a year judging by their traditional popularity in locations in the United States.

“Over the next two to three years, once these retailers are fully operational and once we continue to lease space the way we’re leasing space to other high-profile retailers ... it’s not impossible to think that our sales, total volume, will grow in excess of at least $900 million by the year 2016, which would put Chinook as truly one of the best shopping centres in the country,” said Napper.

“Calgary is starting to reach that global level in terms of retail exposure. Our leasing team has done a tremendous job in terms of attracting global retailers to the Calgary market. A lot of the deals that we’re working on can’t be mentioned at this point but that list is growing. There will be more global retailers opening in Chinook than I think Calgary has ever dreamed of.”

In the shopping centre industry, sales per square foot of non-anchor tenants is a good gauge of a mall’s productivity. In August, sales per square foot at Chinook was $1,090, up 9.5 per cent from a year ago.

Napper said that productivity number could rise to more than $1,200 sales per square foot when those retailers are in place.

Chinook Centre completed a $277-million, 180,000-square-foot expansion in September 2010 which introduced several new retailers to the mall. Before the expansion, total annual sales were about $480 million for the entire shopping centre.

Nordstrom officially announced Thursday its plans to expand into Canada. Besides Chinook, it will also move into the Pacific Centre in Vancouver; the Rideau Centre in Ottawa; and Sherway Gardens in Toronto.

The locations at Chinook Centre, Pacific Centre and Rideau Centre, operated by Cadillac Fairview, will become available with the closure of Sears Canada stores there in the fall.

The store opening in Toronto’s Sherway Gardens will be a newly-built one.

“It’s exciting to finally have this opportunity to better serve our Canadian customers closer to home and we can’t wait to open our doors,” said Erik Nordstrom, president of stores for Nordstrom, Inc. “Cadillac Fairview has been instrumental in helping us get started in Canada, and we’re thrilled to be part of these premier shopping destinations. While we’re fortunate to have many loyal Canadian customers who’ve shopped with us over the years, we recognize we’re new here and that we have to earn our customers’ business. We look forward to what we will learn and are grateful for the chance to better serve our Canadian customers.”

John Sullivan, president and chief executive of Cadillac Fairview, said it is delighted that Nordstrom has found a home in Canada.

“Nordstrom is an excellent fit for all four locations; not only will they transform our shopping centres, but enhance the Canadian retail landscape as a whole,” he said.

Sullivan called the retail deal a “great marriage — a marriage made in heaven if you will.”

Nordstrom also announced it will continue exploring opportunities to open additional full-line stores as well as Nordstrom Racks, its off-price retail division, as part of the company’s future expansion into Canada.

At a news conference in Toronto, Blake Nordstrom, president of Nordstrom Inc., said over time the company is open to other opportunities to expand further.

“In terms of how many stores are possible ... we think there’s the potential of six to eight or maybe nine full-line stores in all of Canada,” he said.

Karen McKibbin, who has been with the company for 27 years, was also named president of Nordstrom Canada.

According to Nordstrom’s website, the company was founded in 1901 as a shoe store in Seattle and today it operates 231 stores in 31 states. The upscale department store chain offers a selection of quality fashion apparel, shoes and accessories for men, women and children.

For the four-week period ended August 25, the company reported preliminary total retail sales of $866 million, an increase of 25.2 per cent from the same period last year. Preliminary year-to-date total retail sales of $6.32 billion increased 12.1 per cent compared with a year ago.

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